Politics: One of the reasons politics is poisoned in America

In lunch or dinnertime conversations, people lament the fighting between the political parties.

Indeed, on some issues, it is pretty much schoolyard level taunting. For those matters, I often feel "a plague on both their houses."

An issue which I think is a serious issue is ID checks for voting.

Here is an example where the two sides take completely opposite views and I don't see where compromise is even possible.

One side says this is voter intimidation.

The other side says it is to prevent voter fraud.

Who would be for voter intimidation? Who is for voter fraud?

Well, see below ...

Tucker of Atlanta Journal Constitution says ...

In campaign seasons such as this, when victory may turn on a handful of votes, none of those claims is more important to Republican activists than overhyped allegations of voter fraud.

During the past decade, GOP-dominated state legislatures across the country have used assertions of mischief at the ballot box to push through harsh voter ID laws. Republican strategists have also pushed prosecutors to go after allegedly fraudulent voters.
............
The GOP’s brand is in tatters, dragged down by an incompetent president, an unpopular war and a sickly economy. So the party seems to be pinning its hopes on keeping likely Democrats - people of color, the poor, college students - away from the polls.

But that tactic seems unlikely to be enough to prevent Democrats from gaining seats in Congress, if not the White House. Democrats are registering in record numbers, and the GOP can’t intimidate or eliminate enough of them to make a difference.

The stench of corruption and cynicism emanating from the effort to disenfranchise voters is finally too heavy to ignore. The GOP is just ensuring that the tarnish on its brand becomes permanent.

Thus, in the eyes of Tucker, efforts to check IDs for voting is voter intimidation and is prime evidence of GOP corruption.

On the other hand, Fund at the NY Post says ...

The issue of photo ID has become symbolic of the clash of values on election standards. Supporters say it is bizarre that most states don't require a photo ID to vote, at a time when one is needed to buy an airline ticket, rent a video or cash a check. A Rasmussen Research poll found 82% of Americans believed voters should show photo ID, including 70% of Obama voters. But liberal groups insist that even laws that allow voters to use a paycheck or utility bill as ID discriminate against minority voters and could lead to "profiling."

But when voters are disfranchised by the counting of improperly cast ballots or outright fraud, their civil rights are violated just as surely as if they were prevented from voting. The integrity of the ballot box is just as important to the credibility of elections as access to it.
........
Even after Florida 2000, the media tend to downplay or ignore stories of election incompetence, manipulation or theft. Allowing such abuses to vanish into an informational black hole in effect legitimizes them. Should "anything goes" continue to accepted as an election standard, voters may wake up to a crisis even bigger than the 2000 Florida folly. Perhaps then it will demand to know why more wasn't done to fix the system before it failed again. That's why officials need to enforce whatever safeguards we have this year - and then lobby hard for better voter education and protections against fraud in the future.

I can't help but notice how Fund doesn't resort to name calling like Tucker.

As I see it, is it voter intimidation to try to prevent voter fraud?

Is it driver intimidation to have cops with radar guns to prevent speeding?

Voter intimidation is preventing legitimate voters from voting. Asking for an id at voting doesn't seem to me to be an unreasonable precaution.

HT: The two articles were cited over at RCP's 10/5/08 Sunday afternoon roundup.